Modern trains will be launched between Tashkent and Nurafshan, while public transport routes linking the capital with Tashkent region will be expanded, the presidential press service reported.
The decision is intended to develop the region as a single economic and transport area with Tashkent. No launch date for the trains or list of new routes has yet been announced.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced the transport plans on 22 July at a meeting with the public of Tashkent region in Yangi O‘zbekiston Park in Nurafshan. Representatives of the older generation, young people and regional activists attended the event.
Tashkent region accounts for about 10% of Uzbekistan’s gross domestic product. It has attracted $16 billion in foreign investment over the past five years.
Around 3,000 enterprises with foreign capital operate in the region, while exports have approached $3 billion. The president described the region as one of the pillars of the national economy.
Nurafshan is being developed as Uzbekistan’s first city built on a “smart city” model. Digital administration, intelligent transport, energy-saving technology and environmental infrastructure are intended to operate as an integrated system.
The foundation stone has been laid for a 35-hectare Future Technologies Centre. Plans call for research centres and high-tech laboratories focused on artificial intelligence and digitalisation.
A Youth Town is also under construction in Nurafshan, including a 1,000-seat Palace of Culture, an Artificial Intelligence Centre, an information and resource library, a vocational centre and a regional branch of the Academy of Arts.
The Nurafshan Business City project includes a 700-bed medical centre on a 10-hectare site. It is expected to offer more than 60 types of medical services using telemedicine and robotics; a tourism and cultural complex with an Eastern Bazaar, artisans’ streets and an amphitheatre is also being built.
